New Report: Why the Highway Trust Fund Won’t Solve America’s Infrastructure Crisis

Solution needs to come from states and more importantly, localities

New York, N.Y. (10/22/15) – In the coming days, Congress will once again face the question of how to finance the Highway Trust Fund after passing a temporary fix in July. Such debates always raise concerns about the crumbling state of America’s infrastructure—and rightly so—but a new report from the Manhattan Institute shows that no amount of increase in funding for the Highway Trust Fund will fix our infrastructure crisis.

Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Aaron Renn argues that state and local governments have a larger role to play in repairing our roads than the federal government does. The Highway Trust Fund accounts for only about a quarter of America’s total government-transportation spending, and very little of that goes to maintaining the 3.1 million miles of roads controlled by local governments. Only 14 percent (430,000 miles) of those roads are part of the federal aid system. The rest are funded by local sources such as property taxes and have to compete for those dollars with other local services such as police departments and libraries.

Local governments have accumulated significant repair backlogs, and the longer roads remain in disrepair, the more expensive it will be to fix them. States and localities have traditionally demanded more federal dollars to combat the problem, but that funding will not reach many of the roads that need it. Renn offers eight policy options for local governments to consider, including devolving responsibility for maintenance to property owners, implementing tolls, and raising gas taxes.

Renn suggests that state and local governments should take ownership of their own transportation challenges, create a policy framework to address them, and craft specific solutions within that framework. He then offers eight policy options for local governments to consider, including devolving responsibility for maintenance to property owners, implementing tolls, and raising gas taxes.

Click here to read the full report.